Transcript United Youth Programme - Department for Employment and Learning

• Together: Building a United
Community is the NI Executive’s
strategy for making progress on
Good Relations
• The United Youth Programme is
one of the headline actions in
the strategy
• 10,000 places for young people
aged 16-24 years who are not in
education, training or
employment
• ‘Tackling sectarianism and
racism at the very heart of
its design’
From the Strategy – United Youth aims
• Support young people to take on new challenges and learn
new skills
• Create strong and robust cross community bonds
• Create cross community trust and tackle misperceptions
• Divert them into constructive alternatives
• Give them training and experience in community and
employment
• Facilitate them to meet new friends they would not have met
otherwise
• Grow their confidence and CV
• Help the community
• Empower young people
• Support young people in identifying their role within society
• Help create responsible people
• Encourage volunteering
What young people
and others have told
us so far – for
example....
• Put young people at the heart of the
programme – a youth work approach
• A range of activities – e.g. music,
sport, drama, travel, community
volunteering, preparation for work
• Make it normal to meet new people
• No exams or academic pressure but
yes to qualifications and good quality
work experience
• Good quality one-to-one support
• Track progress and achievements
• Enough money to live on and address
barriers like transport and childcare
• Progression focus, and support after
the programme has ended
What will United
Youth look like?
• Several goals
to think about
• Different types of
activities already
highlighted
Starting with
young people
aged 16-24
who are not in
education,
employment
or training...
• Youth work
principles
• Duration / structure
– informed by pilots
Away from home
experiences
• Together – government, service users and other
interested stakeholders
• Bring all the relevant expertise to bear
• Should lead to different ways of doing things, allow
us to keep learning, and lead to a better outcome
• The solutions come from the challenges
• Works hard to understand the realities of the user
experience – the user is the expert on their
experience
• Builds from the user / beneficiary perspective to
define the ‘challenge’
• Identifies possible ways forward
DISCOVER
DEFINE
Develop
Deliver
• Tests possibilities on a small scale – pilot phase
• Captures the learning
• ‘Scales up’ and delivers
The process towards the pilots
• August – agreeing an outcomes
framework to test
• September – call for concept
proposals to test the outcomes
• October – concepts selected
• October / November –
development phase including
supporting events and activities
• December – pilots selected
• January – pilots announced and
commence
An Outcomes Focus
Personal and related capabilities
Using the capabilities
…during and beyond the programme
Social / emotional / personal development / ‘soft skills’
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Self-awareness and understanding
Confidence and agency
Communication
Planning and problem solving
Relationships including leadership
Creativity
Resilience, determination
Other relevant knowledge and skills for supporting own health and well-being
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Positive engagement with useful services – e.g.
advice
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Positive participation in community –
community, structures, initiatives, democratic
processes
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Positive participation in service to the
community / volunteering
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Positive family and community relationships
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Positive engagement with others from a
different community / cultural background –
especially in the NI context
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Positive engagement in education, training,
work experience, work
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Supporting own health and well-being
Citizenship – towards positive participation in family / community / society
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Knowledge and understanding of own role in community / society
- for engagement with useful services
- for participation in community – structures, initiatives, democratic processes
- for service to the community / volunteering
- for positive family and community relationships
Good Relations – addressing community division / sectarianism /
racism and contributing to reconciliation
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Respect for diversity
Awareness of and sensitivity to the values, beliefs, customs and traditions of others
Understanding of own identity and respect for others from different community
and cultural backgrounds, abilities, orientations etc.
Employability
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Specific positive aspirations for education, training, work
Essential skills – literacy, numeracy, language, ICT
Other knowledge and skills for participation in learning, work experience, work
Attainment of qualifications that are appropriate and useful to the young person’s
needs and progression
Personal and related capabilities
Social / emotional / personal development / ‘soft skills’
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Self-awareness and understanding
Confidence and agency
Communication
Planning and problem solving
Relationships including leadership
Creativity
Resilience, determination
Other relevant knowledge and skills for supporting own health and well-being, including
emotional health and well-being
Citizenship – towards positive participation in family / community / society
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Knowledge and understanding of own role in community / society – individual / collective
- for engagement with useful services
- for participation in community – structures, initiatives, democratic processes
- for service to the community / volunteering
- for positive family and community relationships
Personal and related capabilities - continued
Good Relations – addressing community division / sectarianism / racism and
contributing to reconciliation
 Respect for diversity
 Awareness of and sensitivity to the values, beliefs, customs and traditions
of others
 Understanding of own identity and respect for others from different
community and cultural backgrounds, abilities, orientations etc.
Employability
 Specific positive aspirations for education, training, work
 Essential skills – literacy, numeracy, language, ICT
 Other knowledge and skills for active participation in learning, work
experience, work, including enterprise / entrepreneurship
 Attainment of qualifications that are appropriate and useful to the young
person’s needs and progression
Using the capabilities
…during and beyond the programme
 Positive engagement with useful services – e.g. advice, support
 Positive participation in community – community, structures,
initiatives, democratic processes
 Positive participation in service to the community / volunteering
 Positive family and community relationships
 Positive engagement with others from a different community /
cultural background – cross-community (PUL / CNR) and crosscultural engagement
 Positive engagement in education, training, work experience, work
 Supporting own health and well-being, including emotional health
and well-being
The Principles
1. Young-person-centred
The young person is at the centre when it comes to planning and
delivering United Youth activities. They are actively engaged, the
things that are important to them are taken into account and their
experiences are used to support their learning. Taking part in
United Youth will be an enjoyable experience which fits with their
life. How the young person feels is considered to be as important
as what they know or what they can do.
2. Values and behaviours
Young people are reached out to and treated with empathy,
respect, compassion, patience and the belief that they can grow
and change.
3. Engagement with young people
Taking part in United Youth is not compulsory but helping
young people engage is recognised as a task in its own right.
Young people will get the support that they need to take
part – not just at the start but all along the way.
4. The importance of a central positive relationship
The relationship between the young person and the person
or people supporting them is vital. This relationship will be
open and honest, rooted in a youth work approach,
committed to nurturing the young person, and will create
the conditions to help them flourish. It will provide ongoing
opportunity for the young person to discuss their strengths,
hopes, needs, issues, views, prejudices, to plan for the
future, and will help them to stick with United Youth.
5. Voice
Young people will be supported to find their voice and to use it to
influence their lives, and the lives of others, in a positive way.
They will also be supported to use their voice to help shape the
United Youth Programme.
6. Respect for difference
Respect for difference is a key part of United Youth. The
programme will tackle sectarianism and racism, and other
discriminatory and damaging attitudes and behaviours towards
those who are perceived to be ‘different’. Young people will be
supported to play their part in helping to address these issues.
Young people will learn from others from different backgrounds
and from other experiences of difference that they have on the
programme.
7. Safe and stimulating environments
United Youth will provide experiences which motivate young
people and let them explore their hopes and fears in a safe
environment, and ultimately move beyond their current horizons.
A young person will be enabled to design their own journey by
setting personal goals and working out steps towards these goals.
They will be well supported to do this.
8. Partnership
Young people are partners in their learning and development.
People supporting them will work with them not ‘on’ them.
Other ‘partners’ who are important to the young person can also
be involved – e.g. family members, peers, professionals. United
Youth will be mindful of, and seek to understand and work with,
the wider context within which the young person lives their life.
The ‘non-negotiables’
• Do No Harm!
• This is a ‘Good Relations’ programme
• This is a youth development programme and is young-person
centred
• Willingness to work with us and others to drive our collective
thinking towards a coherent United Youth programme
• Willingness to think ‘outside the box’ and help ‘raise the bar’
• Ambitious for the programme and for the young people who take
part
• Clear focus on the outcomes and principles
• The relationship with the young person, referred to in the
principles, must be evident
• Participatory approach – young people must be involved in the
decisions that affect them and treated as fellow citizens – not
something to be fixed or done onto
• Willingness to try out, test, explore
The information that we need
• Brief details on your organisation, contact details etc.
• If there are any other organisations to be involved that you
know of at this stage, who they are
• Why you are interested in being part of this
• A description of your concept
• How you expect to recruit or engage with young people
• How you will involve young people in development and
delivery
• Age range(s)
• How many young people
• Where your pilot will take place
• How long you think it will take
• Overall cost estimate and main areas of expenditure
The information that we will need – cont’d
• The quality systems, procedures and practices that will
support your pilot
• Your understanding of the principles and how you will
incorporate them and practise according to them
• How your concept will respond to the four outcome areas
and how your approach will lead to change relating to
these
• The skills of the people who will work with the young
people
• Your thoughts on how what you are proposing will
contribute to United Youth over the longer term – anything
in particular you are exploring
• Short ‘public facing’ paragraph on your pilot to aid
networking etc.
Pilots led by young people
• We are interested in engaging with one or more
suitably skilled and experienced organisations to help
us take this forward
• Youth-led means youth-led
• Submit your proposal using the same Concept Proposal
form
• The detail will be around facilitating a process rather
than taking forward a pilot per se
• Can take part in the ‘development events’ and / or
other appropriate opportunities
• Can inform the work of others in the process
• Can inform the wider engagement process with young
people that we need to establish
• Ideally a rural and an urban backdrop
What you need to do
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Consider the challenge
Be prepared to explore with us and others
Complete a Concept Proposal template
Return to us by Thursday 25th September at
4.00pm
• Can return electronically- preferred
• Can return in hard copy
• No additional information / attachments
What we will do
• The Design Team will consider all submitted proposals
• Select a number of proposals to go forward to a
Development Phase – October and November
• Let you know by week beginning 6th October
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------If your concept proposal is selected, we…….
• Will offer a number of ‘development events’ during
October and November and invite you to take part in these
• Will provide more information on other details that we will
need as you develop your full pilot submission
• Ask you for your full submission by 5th December
• Let you know by 19th December.
Development
event
themes....
- Design thinking, co-design and
participation
- Our understanding of Good Relations
and Good Relations practice (including
possibilities for links to other T:BUC strands)
- The core youth development approach
- Theory of change, quality of approach
and measurement of change
- Active citizenship, community service,
volunteering
- Preparation for work and work
experience considerations
- ‘Away from home’ experiences
Thank you for taking part today
• Kieran McArdle - Tel. 028 90252248
email [email protected]
• Anne McCready - Tel. 028 90252375 or 07787408654
email: [email protected]